The Beat That My Heart Skipped – A blog dedicated to daily design inspirations. By Rohini Wahi.

For the new Jane Eyre starring Mia Wasikowska… It’s already out in the US, and will be with us in the UK in September. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I love a gothic drama in the cosy winter months!

Mia Wasikowska played a haunting characterization of Alice in the most recent Alice in Wonderland and I think she’ll make a perfect Jane. Other stars include Micheal Fassbender as Mr. Rochester and what would a good period drama be without Dame Judie Dench, who plays Mrs Fairfax.

Watch the trailer here.

At the risk of sounding repetitive – I’m back! Instead of waxing lyrical about where I’ve been [working],  I’m just going begin by posting.

I had the pleasure of heading to Amsterdam for work last week where it poured with rain and the canals roared and the pavements thrummed with torrents of showers, but the city was still charming. I visited exquisite handmade shops and remote Dutch villages and ate steak and fries in the rain while waiting for my next train back to the city. Exhausting and wonderful.

Keep Calm Gallery was established in January 2007 by Lucas Lepola and Hayley Thwaites. The site was born out of our passion for typography in poster design, British heritage and the medium of screen printing.

We collect… Nice old and new vases and jars for flowers, old picture frames that have seen better days, and interesting pieces of paper and envelopes which come in handy for inspiration.

We can’t live without… Our cats Alfie and Maisy, they’re BRILLIANT!

Our guilty pleasure is… Trashy TV and a good takeaway!

Our house is filled with… Boxes, postal tubes, prints, picture frames, tea towels, bags and more and more business related items every day! This is one of the major drawbacks to working from home, but it’s worth it.

We treasure my… Occasional lazy day and having the chance to take a break from the routine. We love to watch a movie or two, cook a new dish, see friends and family and spend some time wandering around East Dulwich.

Right now we can’t stop thinking about… Moving house. We’re looking for a bigger place at the moment. Every box that arrives here makes us want to move that bit more! Hopefully we’ll find the perfect place soon.

Currently we are reading… A Little History Of The World by E. H. Gombrich (Hayley) and Awkward Situations For Men by Danny Wallace (Lucas)

Our favourite item of clothing are… My vintage floral cashmere jumper (Hayley). My Flight of The Conchords European tour t-shirt, brings back memories of a few great nights
(Lucas).

At the top of our furniture wish list is… A super long office desk that would allow us to spread out and work a little more efficiently. A few old Eames office chairs would do nicely too!

The last thing that really inspired us was… It’s difficult to pin point exactly. We get all sorts of inspiration from being out and about in London. Anything from words and typefaces
to colours and patterns, something jumps out at us and snowballs into an idea.

Our comfort food is… Homemade shepherds pie and red velvet cupcakes!

On our desks are… Often a cat or two. Lots of papers, a giant pencil sharpener and giant Quink ceramic ink well pot. Unfortunately they’re small desks otherwise we would fill them with more interesting things!

This weekend we will… Be sunning myself in Portugal (Hayley). Catching up on work and hopefully seeing old friends (Lucas).

Tonight we must… Take cardboard to the recycling centre and grab some ingredients so we can cook a new dish. Also sit in the garden and watch the cats do back flips after bumble bees. Hopefully fit in a movie and some pudding too!

We love what we do because… We get the chance to work together doing something that makes us really happy. We love creating new products, and when people like them enough to make them part of their home that really means a lot to us. Similarly it’s also fantastic to be able to work with so many talented artists and designers and to be able to bring their work to a new audience. Before we launched our first site over three and a half years ago we never expected to be doing this today, but we can’t imagine doing anything else now.

What a fabulous film. Sex and the City 2 that is. I don’t know what all the bad reviews were about. OK, so it got a little cheesy towards the end and the outfits for shopping in the souks were nothing short of ridiculous but how funny was Liza Minnelli singing ‘Single Ladies’ and how brilliant was Samantha and her hormonal sweats?

One of the most beautiful scenes was when they went camel riding in the desert and they were served drinks in a stunning Bedouin tent. Which got me to thinking (in true Carrie style) about camping and how much it’s come on over the years.

Having spent the majority of my summer holidays camping in France when I was growing up, I’m well accustomed to the more negative aspects of living under a badly constructed piece of polyester. I remember the long, hot, sticky car drive down to the South of France all too well. By the time we arrived, our cramped Renault 6 would stink of camembert and ham (which my sister and I hated so stuck down the side of the car) and tempers would be seriously frayed. My otherwise meek and mild dad would switch into army commander mode, winding up my feisty French mother even more than usual, and begin the operation by pounding tent pegs into the over baked, solid earth.

It was only when we reached our teens (and he was sick of our whingeing) that we were allowed lilos as “I had groundsheets in the Scouts and I survived”. You soon got used to the stones, mice and moles moving around under your back. I’ve also spent 4 nights camping at Glastonbury but would rather push to the back of my head my experiences with the ‘she-pee’ (I thought it collected wee but didn’t realise it had a hole at the end) and the baby wipes – as well as a sleepless night spent camping ‘à la ferme’. Sharing a toilet with a couple of chickens is not for me – sorry mother.

However, it would appear that camping as I know it has been seriously overshadowed by something the trendies have nicknamed ‘glamping’. This is camping at its most glamorous. Actually, I don’t think it can even be linked to camping if you’re not roughing it a little bit but here goes – my guide to ‘glamping’ it under the stars.

The Wagon, Pewsey, Wiltshire
Forester and furniture maker James Noble used natural Sussex oak to construct this little wagon. It’s completely secluded so don’t come here if you like people watching. There’s a hammock, a barbecue and even a clay pizza oven. Camping…yeah right. From £90/night.

Ekopod, Bodmin, Cornwall
If you’re a bit of an eco warrior this is the ‘tent’ for you. It’s a luxury low-carbon retreat on the edge of Bodmin Moor. The white dome tent has a wood-burner and a transparent wall with views onto the garden. In a separate cube tent you’ll find a mini-kitchen and bathroom with a wood fired bath tub – there’s also a wooden decked area where you can eat from the breakfast hamper left for you. From £90/night.

Sapperton Yurt, Westley Farm, The Cotswolds
The group of people who set up this project are seriously into sustainable living so don’t come here if your idea of sustainability is enduring a hardcore night out. They lay on courses and activities like bushcraft and foraging for guests so if you don’t fancy wandering down to the village shop then you can hunt for your dinner instead. This yurt is in a converted horse trailer (so not camping) and has beautiful rugs, a woodburner, a double bed (bed? What’s wrong with a groundsheet?) and a roll top bath. There’s a hammock, a private decking terrace and fairy-lit trees.  From £65/night.

Caravan field, Hazlegrove Farm, Ashey
Helen Carey is a stylist from London who just happened to buy a 1965 Airstream vintage caravan off Ebay. She now has 10 trailers and uses her love of all things beautiful to kit them out in true vintage style. As well as showers on the trailer they also have a separate shower facility and proper loos.  No she-pees required.
Sleeps 4 per trailer. From £360 to £565 per week. Weekends from £160 to £240.

‘Wind in the Willows’ caravan, Abergavenny
OK, I give up. This is so not camping. This caravan featured in the film ‘Wind in the Willows’ (hence the name) and is a proper Romany caravan (albeit recently renovated). It has a full size fold out double bed and a woodburning stove. As well as the caravan you also get an off grid ‘eco cabin’ with a kitchen, dining and shower room.
No need for baby wipes or she-pees at these luxurious places then. If you can’t rough it, glamp it!
Valerie x

Great stories don’t just belong in books. Make doing the dishes a literary occasion with these tea towels from the wonderfully titled Kitchen Sink Dramas. From the wit of Oscar Wilde to the adventures of The Railway Children and the musings of Socrates, at Kitchen Sink Dramas you’ll find a range of products to help transform everyday chores into something more engaging.